Zurich's announces its 2007 plans to focus more on products sold through IFAs
By Lucy Quinton
Zurich has demonstrated its commitment to the IFA market by announcing a series of product launches.
The insurer has revealed that it will be launching guaranteed critical illness (CI) rates in the first half of next year. It will also open up its pension term assurance offering - currently only available to IFAs working for its tied sales force OpenWork - to the whole of market by the end of this year or early January 2007.
The news came as Zurich introduced its new guaranteed adaptable life plan as an enhancement to its existing whole of life (WOL) scheme.
Commenting on the launches, Gerry Warner, protection development manager at Zurich, said: "This is a commitment from Zurich to get back into the market".
He added the provider's decision to establish a guaranteed WOL plan was an extension of its existing reviewable adaptable life plan. Warner explained: "Our reviewable WOL plan sells well. The sum assured is considered more expensive by customers so they often opt for the reviewable policy."
Peter Chadborn, principal at CBK, said he was pleased with Zurich's decision to focus more on products sold by the IFA market. He said: "I would look at using them again as I used them for WOL in the past. I will be looking for quality - does it add value over the 'stack them high sell them cheap' ethos. The more competitive the market, the better."
Commenting on the news Zurich is launching into the guaranteed CI sector, Chadborn added: "Guaranteed CI is always welcome. The timing here is crucial with the Association of British Insurers CI definitions coming into effect next year. The market is awfully quiet at the moment apart from Royal Liver and Prudential."
In addition to its forthcoming product launches, Zurich also plans to launch tools for IFAs, which will hopefully be available at the end of the year. One particular tool is set to deal with Inheritance Tax (IHT) and another will deal with offering business protection - "an area that is still undersold in the market" Warner said. The aim is to encourage IFAs to have more confidence in feeding in information as it comes out with an audit trail of what has been entered into the system.
Zurich is also running a series of seminars this month, which will look at the opportunities in the IHT market and the changes coming out of this year's Finance Act.
There are various ways in which to mitigate potential IHT liabilities and a WOL plan put into trust can be one of the solutions.
